The Hess Cross by James Thayer Read Free Book Online Page B

reading about Rudolf Hess's flight into Scotland in May of last year?"
    "Sure. It was on the front pages for a week. It would've been hard to miss."
    "Quite so. It was in the papers in Scotland, England, the U.S., and almost everywhere else. But not for long in Germany. I'll get to that in a moment. Let me fill you in on Herr Hess."
    Sackville-West referred to a sheet of paper on the desk and said, "Hess was born in Alexandria, Egypt, where his father was in the importing business. He attended schools in Alexandria, Godesberg, Neuchâtel, and Hamburg. In the Great War he served on the western front and was wounded at Verdun. Later he was transferred to the German Air Force and became a pursuit pilot. After the war he studied at the University of Munich."
    "Sounds undistinguished so far," interrupted Smithson. Sackville-West's eyes shot to Smithson in answer. A hard look from the Priest would silence anyone.
    "Hess first heard Hitler speak in 1921 and soon became one of the first non-thugs to join the Nazi party. Hitler displayed him just as he displayed Göring, to give credibility to their movement. In 1923 Hess participated in the Beer Hall putsch, and in 1924 he was jailed with Hitler and several of his Nazi cronies in the Landsberg prison, where Hitler dictated his political testament,
Mein Kampf
, to Hess."
    Sackville-West paused to reach for the pitcher of water on the desk, and Crown asked, "Was being Hitler's secretary Hess's primary role?" Crown wanted to ask what Hess had to do with his being assigned to Chicago.
    "Yes, but much more than that. He was also Hitler's confidant. Until 1932 he held no rank in the party, but he was seen everywhere with Hitler. Hitler soon allowed him to emerge, and Hess became chairman of the central commission of the Nazi party in December 1932. In April 1933 he was promoted to deputy führer, and a few months later to Reich minister for party affairs. Other Nazi leaders came and went, usually violently, but Hess was a permanent fixture. When he flew to Scotland in 1941, he was the third most powerful man in Germany, behind Hitler and Göring."
    "If he was in such a favored position, why did he desert Germany?" Crown asked.
    "We don't know. Apparently it took Hitler by surprise, and the Nazis were extremely embarrassed. At first the German press said nothing, but soon they had to face his absence and explain it to the German people. Goebbels bungled this propaganda job. At first the official line was that Hess had a history of mental disturbances and that he was hallucinating on the night he flew to Scotland. But this was even further embarrassing, because it was an admission that someone who had risen so high in the party had been insane. So the Reich minister for people's enlightenment and propaganda clarified the derangement stories bysaying that injuries received at Verdun had flared up and hampered Hess's thought processes. So the German press said Hess was a good German, an idealist, who couldn't help what he did. Five days after Hess landed in Scotland, his name disappeared from German newspapers and has not been seen since. He had officially ceased to exist."
    "That's what the Germans were told. What does Hitler actually believe?" Crown asked.
    "We don't know that, either. But three days after the flight, Hitler called in Nazi leaders and gave them a pep talk. Hess's journey apparently shocked and demoralized the Nazi party."
    "Imagine how sorry I am to hear that," Crown said.
    Sackville-West laughed softly and went on, "The popular belief in England and the U.S. is that Hess wanted to contact Tory appeasers who might consider a bargain with Germany whereby Hitler would attack the Soviet Union if Great Britain made peace with Germany. With a nonaggression pact with England, Hitler could concentrate his forces on Stalin. Hitler has been lusting after Russia's natural resources for a decade."
    "Could Hess have had Hitler's secret approval for the flight?"
    "Perhaps. But Hess didn't